Rita went up to the Saturday Market in the morning to replenish our stock of fruit and vegetables, while I tried to see whether I could get the generator working. I thought it was a forlorn hope, and it turned out that I was correct!

Around midday, I started following the Hawks v Giants AFL game, but while the Hawks stayed relatively close for the whole match they rarely looked like challenging, eventually losing 95-84.

In the early afternoon, we met up with Nico, Miyu and the two boys, who had come into Moissac to see the circus boats. We had an enjoyable time catching up, while Rita tried to learn some circus skills using the fire sticks.

After a few hours, the heat forced us to retire to the Compostelle Cafe for a couple of quiet drinks, while Ioli practiced his circus gymnastics. During the late afternoon, I followed the World Cup "Round of 16” matches, where two big countries dropped out, when France beat Argentina 4-3, and Uruguay surprised Portugal 2-1.

To round off a big sporting day, I followed the Danish Speedway GP, where Tai Woffinden continued his outstanding form by taking out first place, and increasing his overall lead in the World Championship. As I was following the speedway, I heard a call of “Taggerty” from outside the boat. Further investigation showed four Australians standing up on the roadway; two from the neighbouring town of Mansfield and two from Warrenbayne (near Bendigo) who we locked with last year on our trip down the Midi. They had recognised the boat as they walked through Moissac and just wanted to introduce us to our “neighbours"

Later in the night, when the sun had set, we all went across the canal to watch the Circus fire-show. Miyu and Nico also returned with the boys who had stayed up all day to see the show. All three boats had a role, with the Library boat showing its books and the sail boat being use for a visual display later in the night.

But the highlight of the show was the guy who had been teaching the kids various tricks earlier in the day now doing the live fire-stick show. He was marginally more skilled than Rita had shown, and his fire-sticks were alight.